Have you ever gone on a trip without
really knowing where you are going?
Get a Garmin! Because Google maps may
fail you.
Last spring, Laura Lee Huttenbach, whose
mother is Muriel Patterson Huttenbach, whose father was a brother to Glenn
Patterson, who was Glenda Patterson Teabo’s father, and Laura Bendlin’s grandfather,
asked if I would consider presiding at her wedding to Andy Sidford. Laura Lee,
who grew up in Atlanta, was baptized here in 1988 when she was 6 on the
occasion of a Patterson family reunion.
Laura Lee is the one who traveled in
Africa and wrote a book about a former Mau Mau general entitled, “The Boy is
Gone” and then wrote a book entitled “Running with Raven” about a man who had
run every day on Miami’s South Beach, accumulating over 125,000 miles and who
had run with 2500 people.
And I said yes to the wedding, even
after she noted that the wedding was going to take place at a vineyard in Dahlonega
Georgia. She had met Andy in NYC while studying for a journalism degree at NYU,
and they had checked out NY and NJ possibilities, and even Charlottesville
Virginia, since they had both at different times gone to university there.
But Dahlonega won, beautiful setting,
near to Laura Lee’s family, and best of all, the right price! When Laura Lee
then informed me that they would be covering my expenses to Atlanta (and Sue’s
as well) it was a go.
Then I looked at airline prices. Wow!
Talking to our son Brian, who does a lot of traveling, another option appeared:
drive to Georgia and make it a vacation! And so, we did. Both Brian and Katie
have used Enterprise for their business car needs, so I went to Enterprise and
rented a car for $350 for a week!
Yes, it was a Nissan Sentra, but who
needs a big car for a trip? And it was brand new!
Sue and I learned a lot about traveling
on that trip. Like how handy those smart phones are with google maps and an app
called “Waze” and another called “IExit”. One tells you about traffic, the other
what is at every exit on the interstate, gas, food and lodging.
Because we are old school, we also
brought the tried and true Garmin, and to tell you the truth, it saved us, as
did that cute little Nissan. How?
Well in Dahlonega, which is in Northern
Georgia, is the Gold Mine Museum. It turns out that well before the California
or Alaska gold rushes, there was one in Dahlonega. We even went to a Gold Mine.
And there is really good and eclectic
food: it’s a college town, University of Northern Georgia. And - it is the closest city to the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian
Trail! Get A Garmin, just saying!
Since Sue has hiked a good bit of the
trail with Allison and Tammy and a bunch of others, we thought it would be cool
to get a picture at the trail marker as a souvenir. And as the crow flies, it
is only 30 minutes from Dahlonega to Springer Mountain, which is inside the Chattahoochee
National Forest.
So, early one morning we set off on our
grand adventure, and all was well until at some point the paved roads became
gravel, and then the gravel roads became red clay, and then the hairpin turns
came at a 20% sideway angle, which on the lower side spilled down hundreds of
feet over the mountain.
And, it had rained a lot in northern
Georgia, and the slides, puddles, and ruts from run off were everywhere, and we
were too far in to go back and we knew where we were going, kind of, until
there was no longer any cell service!
No cell service, no Google maps. No
calling for help. In a Nissan Sentra. New!
The Boy Scout motto is “be prepared”.
The Troop 1 motto was “make due”. Get a Garmin. You see the Garmin uses satellites,
not cell towers. And the road was only one car wide, and upward and onward was
the only way to go, so we made due.
Almost three hours in, shaking from fear
and anxiety, we came to a crossroad. And there deep in the forest, sat a
camper, with a couple of dirt bikes and four wheelers, and the banjos started
playing.
The Garmin told us to turn right, and
down on the right was the parking lot for the Appalachian Trail. And Sue went
and got her picture. And we went home another way!
According to the most recent interpretations,
in April, the Magi, the astrologers from the East, saw in the constellation
Aries, the Ram, the constellation of the Hebrew nation of Israel, a portent,
when the moon, covered over Jupiter.
To them it was clear. Something amazing
had happened in Israel. A birth. A new and cosmic king. And they decided to go and
see him.
They knew vaguely what they were looking
for, and vaguely where it was, kind of, and they came sort of prepared and then
made due. They got to Judah. They saw Herod. He told them where they should
look, and having found the new King of the Jewish people, one sent with
miraculous signs of power, they Gentiles, bowed in deference and worshipped
him.
They gave royal gifts. If they had had
cell phones they certainly would have taken “selfies” and then warned by their
Garmin, a dream, they went home another way.
Matthew alone of the gospel writers
tells this story because he wants to make sure that his readers, mostly Jews in
the early years, understood that Gentiles have always been part of the story.
That seekers of the Christ child are always welcome. That one can always be perceived
as an outside by some, and still be loved and accepted by the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords.
For it has always been this way. From
the very beginning. That all kinds of folks, from all walks of life, would seek
out Jesus.
Just like you and me.
And that we, like those early readers of
Matthew’s gospel, need to do all we can to invite even more to come and meet
the child, the Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Just a word of advice, along the way,
get a Garmin.
Amen.
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